Dinora Januarios said she had the worst day of her life less than four weeks ago. The young nurse had just started her stint in the intensive care unit at Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon, which is the largest in the Portuguese capital. As the coordinating nurse, she is responsible for all new admissions. He remembered how bad it was because ambulances kept arriving. There are 41 vehicles waiting in front of the emergency room.

“Suddenly, we felt like we were in a war zone,” he recalls. “I’ve got to help decide at the entrance who we can still admit and who can’t. People are lying there in ambulances, without enough oxygen; they can barely breathe. It’s unbearable.”

German medics welcome

Images of ambulance queues were scattered around the world, and the Portuguese government requested assistance from other European countries. Germany was the first to react. In early February, the German army dispatched medical personnel and equipment, such as ventilators. There are currently 26 German army doctors and nurses helping treat Portuguese COVID-19 patients. The residents have shown great gratitude, and German medics said people waved at them and gave them a thumbs-up sign from other cars while waiting at traffic lights.

However, there has also been some criticism of the fact that they were not sent to help in overloaded state hospitals or in one of the emergency clinics but to the Da Luz Hospital, which is one of the most famous and most expensive private hospitals in Portugal. clinic.

Authorities were quick to emphasize that medics were also treating patients from the public health care system. Nevertheless, the decision has sparked debate about whether private clinics, which are largely funded by expensive complementary insurance schemes, are helping enough to combat the dire pandemic situation in the country.

A recent business report by Luz Saude, the healthcare provider who runs the hospital, stated that the company’s goal of continuing to concentrate on increasing turnover and increasing profit despite “unusual times”. The hospital’s website highlights the fact that regular services, which range from cancer treatments to cosmetic surgeries, are being maintained despite the pandemic.

German medics have worked at the da Luz Hospital in Lisbon

Joao Gouveia, who heads the government committee that monitors intensive care response to COVID-19, told DW that private hospitals also receive money from the government for “use of their infrastructure”. In other words, the Portuguese government has to pay to allow German medics to help in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Luz Saude declined to be interviewed by DW but gave a convincing written statement that the company “does not want to benefit financially from this critical phase Portugal is experiencing.”

Concern about Chinese influence

Many Portuguese find this highly controversial because Luz Saude is part of the giant Chinese conglomerate Fosun. In recent years, Chinese investors have begun to take over Portuguese healthcare providers and other services on a large scale, a trend many observers find alarming.

Investigative journalist Rui Barros reported that during the first seven months of the pandemic, Luz Saude had received a government contract worth € 40 million ($ 48.9 million) to fight COVID-19. “It is interesting that the three companies that receive the most money in this context all have close ties to China,” he said. He deplores the lack of debate in Portugal and the EU as a whole about what this means regarding China’s political influence in Europe in the medium and long term.

Dinora Januario is very happy with Germany’s help

Dinora Januario was also initially surprised because German personnel had already been sent to the Da Luz Hospital. However, he admitted that he was happy because there was medical support from abroad at all. There are now fewer ambulances filling his hospital and the number of new cases in Portugal has fallen over the past week.

However, he was not ready to breathe easily. “The psychological impact in particular will stay with us for a very long time,” he said.

This article has been translated from German.